Holidays are coming!

With the holiday season fast approaching are you ready? People start gathering their pennies, and making their lists for what to get their loved ones or how to surprise their children this year. When I moved out of my country I knew I would get homesick and there would be some tough times ahead but I never thought each year as Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas approach the tightening in my chest would get worse. The first few years it was a sadness in my stomach but as the years flew by it grew much more than that. Now I have two children of my own, I struggle more and more during this festive season without my own family around so we all can make memories together.

This year I am pulling out my big girl panties (as my momma would say) and putting them on till the new year. I am filling up my social calendar as fast as possible so I don’t have time to mope around and feel sorry for myself. That means making great new memories for my own kids even if it is just us.

Halloween is among us now. We went to a Halloween party yesterday where I dressed my 2 year old son in Bambam and my 4 month old in Pebbles to attend a friends fabulous Halloween bash. We may not have been surrounded by family but close friends that were just as important. Afterwards, we headed off to the community center for a Halloween festival. They had rooms decorated with real snakes and spiders from a local pet shop, food vendors, plenty of goodies, music/djing and prizes for the best costumes. This week we are carving pumpkins with not scary witches or ghosts but with happy Mickey Mouse faces. It’s my positive reinforcement chip in over drive. If I keep the kids busy making memories, I too won’t have time to be homesick and make new memories.

For thanksgiving I am gathering all the best traditional recipes for my family and friends to enjoy. If I get my creative cap on soon enough I can tweak a few American dishes to make them my own. Something I wish I had more time for, cooking. I do an awesome pumpkin roll cake that is truly scrumptious.

In no time at all we will fall onto December where decorating the house and tree is a family affair surely to spike my mood. Not to mention my favorite time of year. As soon as I can, I pull the tree out of the loft and in one night the house becomes Santa’s workshop. I send out 100 Christmas cards to all our closest friends and family which usually takes up the first week of December. By time its the middle of December all my shopping is done, cards sent out, and I am back to moping around being homesick. This year I am looking forward to not doing this by taking my son and daughter to see various Santa’s grottos and to Christmas movies, maybe if we are lucky to get snow, a few sleigh rides! The saying is “tis the season to be jolly” not tis the season to feel sorry for yourself. Too many years I have let go by gorging my face with the holiday goodies and feel bad that I am not with my own family back home. Doing this only makes me miss what’s going on in front of me and my kids won’t have family memories like I do if I don’t change my holiday grinchness immediately! So I am gearing up for lots of festivities with my children between Halloween and New Year’s. May it be the best holiday season ever!